Did you know that food production is responsible for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions? This means that the dietary choices we make every day are one of the leading causes of environmental degradation. The following chart shows GHG emissions from 29 different food products and from which stage in the supply chain each product's emissions originate:
Most of the emissions in the life cycle come from the land used for livestock or crop production and on farm processes. Processes in the supply chain after the food leaves the farm including transportation, retail, etc. mostly account for a small share of emissions. So, eating local food does help reduce the environmental impact but eating food that are low overall emitters contribute far more.
Another interesting study that looks at the association between a food group’s impact on mortality and its average relative environmental impact shows that most of the foods that have low averaged relative environmental impact are associated with significant reductions in mortality as well. (See graph)
So let's try to make an effort to choose better, more sustainable products whenever possible today or in future for our health and to help protect the environment!
Below are links to the sources of the information from above in case you are interested in reading more:
Did you know that food production is responsible for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions? This means that the dietary choices we make every day are one of the leading causes of environmental degradation. The following chart shows GHG emissions from 29 different food products and from which stage in the supply chain each product's emissions originate:
Most of the emissions in the life cycle come from the land used for livestock or crop production and on farm processes. Processes in the supply chain after the food leaves the farm including transportation, retail, etc. mostly account for a small share of emissions. So, eating local food does help reduce the environmental impact but eating food that are low overall emitters contribute far more.
Another interesting study that looks at the association between a food group’s impact on mortality and its average relative environmental impact shows that most of the foods that have low averaged relative environmental impact are associated with significant reductions in mortality as well. (See graph)
So let's try to make an effort to choose better, more sustainable products whenever possible today or in future for our health and to help protect the environment!
Below are links to the sources of the information from above in case you are interested in reading more:
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